When Brockly on The Hill, Monkstown was built in the mid-1800s the owners were probably grateful that their house was well back from what must have been, for the time, a relatively busy road.
It’s near-neighbour at the top of the hill, the stunning, and now restored, Tudor Hall was run as a seaside hotel for well-to-do Victorians coming to take the air so there must have been a steady flow of carriages passing Brockly and its newly built neighbours.
By comparison with the grandeur of Tudor Hall, Brockly, a semi-detached house, one of six matching, rather handsome redbrick two-over-garden level houses, must have seemed almost modest.
But by today’s standards, 406sq m is hardly modest, and so the owners, having lived in the five-bedroom house since 1988, are downsizing.
It’s for sale by Knight Frank for €2.75 million – a price that reflects both the size and condition of the house but also the attractiveness of The Hill as a Monkstown address.
When the owners bought it, the house had been restored and extended by its architect owner so they had little to do. New owners will probably feel the same.
The entrance is up a tall flight of steps and from the hall door the views stretch out over the rooftops of Monkstown, with glimpses of the sea, a reminder how high up these houses are.
There are three main rooms off the large welcoming hall: the formal living room to the front with its two tall windows, decorative plasterwork and period fireplace and two rooms at the back, a large dining room and a much smaller adjoining room, now used as a study but probably originally a butler’s pantry. There is access down to the back garden at this level as well as a cloakroom and toilet.
Upstairs there are four bedrooms, three doubles and a large single as well as the family bathroom. The renovation in the 1980s included the installation of a dressing room and an en suite bathroom for the main bedroom which is cleverly done and doesn’t detract from the room.
Two of the back bedroom’s walls are curved, an unusual feature, which the owner points out was probably done so that the tall sash windows upstairs could be perfectly aligned with the downstairs windows – early Victorian builders being as keen on symmetry as the Georgians who had gone before.
Family hub
Downstairs at the bright garden level (where the windows are large by comparison with those usually found in this style of house and the ceilings are higher than usual) is where the family spends most of its time.
There’s a living room to the front, cosy with a wood burning stove, and a square kitchen which new owners will definitely do some work in as the units are very dated. This opens onto the paved patio at the back.
There is a bedroom down at this level and one of the jobs the current owners did do was convert the small downstairs toilet into a shower room.
The architect owner extended to the side making a large studio office. It has been used as a teenage hangout but it’s a great space and would, once again, make a perfect home office, studio or even a granny flat. There is also a garage.
The gardens are beautiful. The front one is unusually long, with parking for several cars.
The back garden, which is bordered by tall granite walls, is stunning, even on a wintery spring day which gives an indication how lovely it must be in summer. At the top near the house is a patio area, then there’s a lawn and mature shrubs, trees and flowers and at the end is a small secret garden, planted with ferns in typical Victorian fashion.
